MP

Lindsay Tanner (ALP) since 1993.

Profile

Compact inner city electorate of 53 sq.km covering the area south of Brunswick and Maribyrnong Roads between the Yarra River, Maribyrnong River and Merri Creek. Includes the Melbourne CBD, Richmond, Collingwood, Carlton, Fitzroy, North Melbourne and Flemington.

History/Trivia

Existing since Federation, Melbourne has been Labor held since 1904. Former members include Bill Maloney (1904-40), Arthur Calwell (1940-72), Ted Innes (1972-83) and Gerry Hand (1983-93). The electorate contains the homes of five of the 10 Victorian based AFL clubs. The Greens polled 15.7% at the 2001 election and 19.0% in 2004, and have a strong chance of finishing second on the primary vote in 2007.

2-Party Booth Result

Labor majorities were recorded in all 36 booths used at the 2004 election, above 60% in 34, 70% in 25 and 80% in nine. Labor's vote ranged from 55.2% at Powlett Reserve Children's Centre in east Melbourne, to 85.5% at the Flemington and North Melbourne Community Centre in North Melbourne.

Main Candidates

The sitting Labor MP is Lindsay Tanner, a solicitor who served as State Secretary of the Federated Clerks Union 1987-93, having gained control from the right-wing Groupers who had run the union since 1948. He has long been an advocate of reforming the Labor Party's membership structure, in particular to allow grass roots Party members greater involvement in choosing delegates to State and Federal Labor Party conferences. He was often grouped together with Mark Latham as one of the 'young Turks', both having written books on economic and social change, and both also interested in new ideas, sometimes to the embarrassment of longer serving Labor shadow ministers. He was Shadow Minister for Finance 1998 to 2001, Shadow Minister for Communications 2001-4 and again now Shadow Minister for Finance. His major opposition is likely to come from the Greens, whose candidate Adam Bandt has worked as an industrial and public interest lawyer for the last decade. Bandt has been a partner at Slater and Gordon, holding a position previously held by Labor Deputy Leader Julia Gillard. He represented construction workers before the Cole building industry royal Commission, represented unions and workers during the Ansett insolvency, and was involved in prosecuting some of Australia's biggest clothing companies for breaches of laws designed to prevent the exploitation of outworkers.

Assessment

Likely Labor retain, the only question being how well the Greens poll.